Monthly Archives: February 2015

China Moving to Gain Control of Russia’s Oil & Gas Fields, Weapons Systems

Posted on 28 February, 2015 by alfin2101

Update: RIP Nemtsov China’s New Lease on Russia To become a superpower, China will need the energy resources and natural resources of its neighbor, Russia. It appears that China will soon get what it wants, as Russia moves to change … Continue reading →

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Decade Forecast 2015-2025 Sees National Fragmentation Ahead

Posted on 25 February, 2015 by alfin2101

We expect Moscow’s authority to weaken substantially, leading to the formal and informal fragmentation of Russia… __Decade Forecast 2015-2025 The nation of Russia is being pushed to the breaking point by unrealistic neo-imperial ambitions at the highest levels. In just … Continue reading →

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Why Was Al Fin Predicting an “Oil Glut” in 2006 At the Height of Peak Oil Hysteria?

Posted on 23 February, 2015 by alfin2101

Global Hydrocarbon Endowment In 2015, at a time of a relative oversupply of and underdemand for oil, it is easy for oil journalists to write about an “oil glut,” as if they had invented the concept. But in the years … Continue reading →

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Destruction as Near-Complete as Nuclear War

Posted on 20 February, 2015 by alfin2101

I see Russia as a country in decline. It’s a one-crop economy; two-thirds of its exports are energy. It has a terrible demographic problem; the number of Russians is shrinking. It has a huge health problem; the average Russian male … Continue reading →

Posted in Russia, Russian Collapse | Tagged | 21 Comments

Peak Oil: Isn’t It Time to Start Promoting Safe, Clean, Abundant Nuclear Power?

Posted on 18 February, 2015 by alfin2101

Even in the age of an apparent oversupply of oil & gas, the world is full of “peak oil doomers.” Such doomers believe that human societies are on the verge of a global energy collapse, with a subsequent collapse of … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Nuclear Power, Peak Oil | Tagged , | 12 Comments

After the Dam Breaks, the Deluge

Posted on 14 February, 2015 by alfin2101

All signs point to the eventual collapse of Putin’s regime.… When the rotten Russian dam breaks, as it inevitably will, only strong and stable non-Russian states will be able to contain the flooding, shielding the rest of the world from … Continue reading →

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Record Numbers Fleeing from US Citizenship

Posted on 12 February, 2015 by alfin2101

Today the Treasury Department published the names of individuals who renounced their U.S. citizenship or terminated their long-term U.S. residency (“expatriated”) during the fourth quarter of 2014. …. The [3,415] total for the year breaks last year’s record number of … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Demographics, Obama, Russia | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Genes, IQ, and Benadryl Dementia

Posted on 11 February, 2015 by alfin2101

BGI Cognitive Genetics is a Chinese institute hard at work teasing out the connections between genes and IQ. Robert Plomin at King’s College London is on a similar quest, studying the DNA of 2,000 participants from the long-running Study of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, Medicine | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Rise of the Greater Chinese Empire

Posted on 10 February, 2015 by alfin2101

Russian borders are indefensible. Wherever you look at the map there are no natural obstacles that would hamper a military advance. Historically, every major advance that threatened Russia’s existence (the Poles in 1610, Napoleon in 1812, Hitler in 1941) came … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Russia, Russian Collapse, Siberia | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Is Putin, Like Hitler, Pushing Europe Into War?

Posted on 8 February, 2015 by alfin2101

The good news is that Russians do not want a war — and this is Putin’s Achilles heel. A survey by the Levada Center found that 68 percent of Russians polled “do not want their sons to fight” in Ukraine. … Continue reading →

Posted in Putin, Russia | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Where Will Oil Prices Go Now?

Posted on 6 February, 2015 by alfin2101

Reuters says oil is poised for the biggest weekly price gain in 4 years. But according to Citigroup, we have not seen the bottom of the price drop yet. Depending upon the expert prediction, oil is headed anywhere between $30 … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Energy, Oil Prices | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Today Africa; Tomorrow the World?

Posted on 6 February, 2015 by alfin2101

There are over 1 billion people living on the African continent, although you would never know it from a spaceship window over an African night. Europe, by contrast, has about 745 million people. But just look at the lights! There … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Demographics, IQ, Maintenance | Tagged | 4 Comments

Is Russia Doomed? The Question is How and When

Posted on 4 February, 2015 by alfin2101

Morgan Stanley has a short message for Russia: you’re doomed. _Doomed But it really depends upon what is meant by the term “doomed.” The land will remain, and many of the people. But over time Russia’s wealth resources will be … Continue reading →

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Few Good Men Left in Dying Russia

Posted on 1 February, 2015 by alfin2101

…in the countries of the former Soviet Union… [they] are experiencing a huge deficit of single, decent, non-drinking, not abusive, marriage minded, family oriented men. There is a large number of Russian women who have absolutely no chance of ever … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Fertility, Russia, Russian Womb Drain | Tagged , , | 4 Comments